Legislators imposed a Dec. 31 deadline for a decision on changes to medical assistance programs. Give the feds more time.

As we feared, the State of Wisconsin and the federal government are in a standoff over how to fund one of the biggest of the big-ticket items in the state budget: Medicaid. The Obama administration last week said it wouldn't decide on some aspects of Wisconsin's plan until next year, which blows through a Dec. 31 deadline imposed by the state.

And because of that deadline written into state law by Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans in the Legislature, the state is free to drop 53,000 adults from BadgerCare. Federal health officials did approve some aspects of the state's request for relief from federal "maintenance of effort" requirements.

The state should not let thousands of people go without health insurance while this is sorted out. Walker and the Legislature should push for a change in law that modifies the deadline so federal officials have more time to consider the entire request.

And, as we urged in an earlier editorial, Wisconsin should amend its proposal so that fewer of the poor - especially kids - are affected. Under the state's proposal, 65,000 people, nearly half of them kids, would either leave the programs or be turned out under the changes the department proposed, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

The federal Center for Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program Services has agreed to allow the state to raise premiums for some adults on BadgerCare Plus but needs more time to analyze other proposals, especially those affecting children.

Like most other states, Wisconsin is facing a funding crunch for its medical assistance programs. Together, those programs are expected to cost state and federal taxpayers $6.73 billion this year. State spending has increased, but overall spending is down because one-time federal money that came as part of the stimulus bill has run out.

At the same time, the Great Recession and an expansion of medical assistance in Wisconsin have brought many more people into the programs. Medicaid plans now cover about one in five state residents, and Medicaid rolls have increased at a rate nearly 10 times the rate of population growth.

We're not unsympathetic to the Walker administration's contention that the state needs to find a way to deliver these programs more efficiently. Our main concern is that so many children are likely to be affected by the state's proposal.

Until the details are worked out, the state should drop its year-end deadline - even at the cost of a few more months of the status quo in Medicaid.